CI Pipeline

GitHub Actions

Use the TempInbox API directly from shell steps or JavaScript test runners.

Shell (cURL)

.github/workflows/e2e.yml

name: E2E Tests

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Create temp email inbox
        id: inbox
        run: |
          RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST https://tempinbox.dev/api/new_address \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            -d '{}')
          echo "address=$(echo $RESPONSE | jq -r .address)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          echo "jwt=$(echo $RESPONSE | jq -r .jwt)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

      - name: Run signup flow
        env:
          TEST_EMAIL: ${{ steps.inbox.outputs.address }}
        run: npm run test:e2e

      - name: Wait for verification email and extract OTP
        id: otp
        env:
          JWT: ${{ steps.inbox.outputs.jwt }}
        run: |
          for i in $(seq 1 15); do
            MAIL=$(curl -s "https://tempinbox.dev/api/mails?limit=1&offset=0" \
              -H "Authorization: Bearer $JWT")
            COUNT=$(echo $MAIL | jq '.count')
            if [ "$COUNT" -gt "0" ]; then
              UUID=$(echo $MAIL | jq -r '.results[0].uuid')
              RAW=$(curl -s "https://tempinbox.dev/api/mail/$UUID" \
                -H "Authorization: Bearer $JWT" | jq -r '.raw')
              OTP=$(echo "$RAW" | grep -oP '\b\d{6}\b' | head -1)
              echo "otp=$OTP" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
              exit 0
            fi
            sleep 3
          done
          echo "No email received" && exit 1

      - name: Submit OTP
        env:
          OTP: ${{ steps.otp.outputs.otp }}
        run: npm run test:verify -- --otp=$OTP

Node.js test runner

.github/workflows/playwright.yml

name: Playwright E2E

on: [push]

jobs:
  playwright:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'

      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

      - name: Run Playwright tests
        run: npx playwright test
        env:
          # Tests create their own inboxes via the API — no env var needed
          BASE_URL: https://your-staging.example.com

GitLab CI

.gitlab-ci.yml

e2e-tests:
  stage: test
  image: node:20
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npx playwright install --with-deps chromium
    - npx playwright test
  variables:
    BASE_URL: "https://your-staging.example.com"

Environment variable pattern

For test frameworks that need the address upfront (before the test runner starts):

# generate_inbox.sh — run before test suite
#!/bin/bash
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST https://tempinbox.dev/api/new_address \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{}')
export TEST_EMAIL=$(echo $RESPONSE | jq -r .address)
export TEST_EMAIL_JWT=$(echo $RESPONSE | jq -r .jwt)
echo "TEST_EMAIL=$TEST_EMAIL"
echo "TEST_EMAIL_JWT=$TEST_EMAIL_JWT"

github-actions step

- name: Set test inbox
  run: |
    source ./generate_inbox.sh
    echo "TEST_EMAIL=$TEST_EMAIL" >> $GITHUB_ENV
    echo "TEST_EMAIL_JWT=$TEST_EMAIL_JWT" >> $GITHUB_ENV

Rate limit considerations

In CI with many parallel jobs:

Each job should create its own inbox (parallel-safe by design)
Add 2–3 second delays between poll attempts
Use a timeout of 60 seconds for staging SMTP (external delivery is slower)
Do not share inboxes across jobs — race conditions will cause flaky tests

Secrets

The TempInbox API requires no API key for the public instance. No secrets to manage in CI. For self-hosted instances with PASSWORDS set, add the password as a CI secret:

env:
  TEMP_EMAIL_AUTH: ${{ secrets.TEMP_EMAIL_PASSWORD }}

# Pass as header:
curl -H "x-custom-auth: $TEMP_EMAIL_AUTH" ...

Temp Email for Developers: API, CI, Testing — the full developer workflow overview
Temporary Email for Deliverability Testing — testing what CI can’t catch
Playwright guide — the test-runner side of these pipelines

Get Started

API Reference

API Playground

Integration Guides

Comparisons

Policies

GitHub Actions

Shell (cURL)

Node.js test runner

GitLab CI

Environment variable pattern

Rate limit considerations

Secrets

​GitHub Actions

​Shell (cURL)

​Node.js test runner

​GitLab CI

​Environment variable pattern

​Rate limit considerations

​Secrets

​Related reading

GitHub Actions

Shell (cURL)

Node.js test runner

GitLab CI

Environment variable pattern

Rate limit considerations

Secrets

Related reading